(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel antiseptic agent for improving the preservability of food or drink and a method of the antiseptic treatment thereof.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an antiseptic agent for food and drink which comprises as an effective ingredient a pectin decomposiiton product having a molecular weight of 600 to 5000 and a method for the antiseptic treatment of food and drink which comprises adding this decomposition product to the food and drink.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Various foods and drinks and perishables for the manufacture thereof are readily vitiated, deteriorated, discolored and caused to stink by microorganisms, resulting in reduction of their commercial values. Recently, even in the field of food and drink, wide area distribution and large quantity selling have been adopted and it has been required that these foods and drinks should be prevented from putrefying and changing their quality caused by microorganisms and they should be safe from the sanitary viewpoint. Therefore, in order to enhance the preservability of food and drink, there have been adopted such means as refrigeration, sterilization and seal packaging and various synthetic preservatives or sterilizers are added to them during the processing steps. However, since these synthetic preservatives or sterilizers have toxic actions to the human body, the amounts of addition of these agents or kinds of food and drink to which they are added are inevitably restricted and generally no satisfactory results can be obtained. Accordingly, development of antiseptic agents having a high safety has been eagerly desired.